Racin’s Spirit in Blaze Koneski’s Verses

Koco Racin and Blaze Koneski are two key figures in the Macedonian cultural history. In his works, Koneski often turns to Racin’s literary activity, and here we focus on the presence of the great Macedonian poet - Racin in Koneski’s poetry. The presence of Racin’s spirit in Koneski’s verses is perceived on two levels: a) an explicit level, which refers to the direct mention of Racin in Koneski’s verses; b) an implicit level, which refers to the indirect presence of Racin's poetry in Koneski’s verses in relation to thematic and motifs aspects, but also in terms of stylistic peculiarities of Racin’s poetics on the one side, and Koneski’s poetics on the other side. On an implicit level, Racin is present in numerous poetic works of Koneski. I would mention here the poems "Handshake", "Uncle Riste," "Koco Racin", "Commemoration" and "Macedonian poets." In all of them Koneski mentions Racin and his contribution to the development of the Macedonian literary and GENERAL cultural thought. On the other hand, the indirect presence of Racin's poetry in Konevski’s verses is perceived at several levels: at the level of folklore which is present in the works of both poets, the level of motifs such as lost love, hate, fight for freedom, patriotism; reminiscences on important historical figures from Macedonian history, the short poems by both Racin and Koneski; the memories, or references to the past in Racin’s and Koneski’s poems, etc